Teaching & Learning

Being a new mom is all about teaching and learning. I think other than being in elementary school, this is the most new learning I've done in my life. It would seem that raising a child would be second nature, I mean, I've been a child, I can remember what it was like... sort of.  But everything I do for her I feel like I need to learn, to consult with other mothers and resources. Lots of resources. There are so many techniques and ways to do things out there, some new and some older than dirt. I try to just follow my best judgement and do what comes naturally to me and to Penelope, but it's not always so easy.

My daughter is a different person than I am and she doesn't do things the way that I would do them, or do do them (I wrote do do - ha!). She is a perfect blend of personality traits from both her father and me - which is just crazy to think about. She gets from me:

• a fabulous sense of humor
• her love of animals (especially dogs)
• her ability to fight off sleep
• her love of attention

and from her dad:

• anger and frustration at not being able to do everything
• a quiet intelligence (you can just see that she is brilliant)
• her love of looking at herself in the mirror

I'm enjoying learning about her so much that sometimes I don't know if I'm teaching her the right things - I mean that I get sidetracked by watching her and am not always the greatest role model. Like going to get fast food instead of cooking dinner because we spent all afternoon at the zoo again and I just don't feel like cooking. Or watching The Hills and The City on tv because it's on and it's late and I just really want to watch it. Or drinking cokes with my meals - mostly diet, but still...

I guess I need to cut myself some slack. It's a learning process.